Promoting Healthy Activity in Kids ~ Adventures of Wally Pt. II
In our previous post, Wally helped us see how fun it can be to get outside, enjoy some sports, and play with friends and family! Well, Wally decided to take a break from Football after he lost his ball in the tree, and try his hand (or should we say “foot”??) at soccer instead! Besides, he didn’t like wearing a football helmet and his mother insisted he must if he were to play this game.
Does it seem like Wally is flip flopping a bit? Should he give up on football so easily? Should he be bouncing around to different sports, or stick to one and become really proficient at it? Maybe that sounds like a silly question, but it’s one that many parents have asked themselves. Where is the line between promoting your child’s perseverance, commitment, and ability to follow the rules, and letting him make his own decision to give up because it is hard work or he doesn’t like the rules?
Being child-directed, or child-led, is a really important way of letting your child explore his likes and dislikes. This allows your child to develop his or her own individuality and discover what activities are truly enjoyable. Of course, it’s good to promote perseverance – if something is difficult, that doesn’t mean it can’t also be fun. Striking the balance between encouraging your child to be persistent while still allowing them the freedom to explore options and do something else is key!
Through exploration and play, children will learn which activities are right for them. It might be a team sport such as soccer, football, golf, swimming, softball, rugby or basketball, or a more individual sport such as running, walking, gymnastics, learning to yoyo or joining the circus! (It happens!) The take away point should always be focused on physical and mental health and, particularly for children, having fun and spending time together as a family and with friends.
Recent Post
Effective Behavior Interventions to Establish Expectations at School
Transforming Education: Scalable Educational Interventions
Effective Inclusive Classroom Strategies for Teaching Students with Autism
5 Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Classroom Management Techniques
Healthy Parent-Teacher Relationships: Key Tips for Success
Posts by Tag
- Uncategorized (106)
- Incredible Years (63)
- News (45)
- Children (26)
- evidence-based (25)
- Parents (23)
- Programs (19)
- Research (18)
- Parenting (17)
- Teachers (15)
- Social Emotional Learning (11)
- Testimonials (11)
- Books (10)
- Classroom Dinosaur (10)
- Just for fun (10)
- School (10)
- Early Intervention (9)
- Early childhood (9)
- early education (9)
- International (8)
- Teaching (8)
- Guest Blog (7)
- Classroom (6)
- activity (6)
- education (6)
- health (6)
- Autism (5)
- Literacy (4)
- Workshops (4)
- ADHD (3)
- Families (3)
- Group Leaders (3)
- Head Start (3)
- New Website (3)
- Parenting Class (3)
- Webster Stratton (3)
- sports edition (3)
- Behavioral Health (2)
- Certification (2)
- Family (2)
- Mentors (2)
- New York Times (2)
- ODD (2)
- Peer Coaches (2)
- Response (2)
- Seattle (2)
- Trainers (2)
- Tutorial (2)
- behavioral intervention (2)
- fitness (2)
- infants (2)
- Fidelity (1)
- Football (1)
- Home Visits (1)
- Institute of Medicine (1)
- New Videos (1)
- North Carolina (1)
- Pediatrics (1)
- Prevention (1)
- Prince William (1)
- Rewards (1)
- SREE (1)
- Seahawks (1)
- Social Media (1)
- Stephen Scott (1)
- Team (1)
- ece (1)
- holiday (1)
- incarceration (1)
- learning (1)
- parent class (1)
- pediatricians (1)
- seattle sounders (1)
- summer (1)
- training (1)
- workshop (1)